Nibbles from Napa and Sonoma: Farmers' Markets and Fresh Food Stands

Jodi Naas, Special to SF Gate

Published
4:00 am PDT, Saturday, April 7, 2001

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Nibbles from Napa and Sonoma: Farmers' Markets and Fresh Food Stands

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There's one sort of Wine Country product that no amount of packaging and marketing can improve -- fresh fruit and vegetables. From April or May to October, you can drive north along the Silverado Trail and find a number of produce stands where beautiful, glossy eggplant, plump berries and tomatoes, persimmons and fragrant, peppery greens are available, with no extra packaging or labeling whatsoever; in fact, you might want to bring your own bags. Boyd's Napa Valley Berry Farm should be first on your list; fresh strawberries and raspberries don't get much better than they do here, and if you're a wayward Scandinavian in search of olallieberries, you might find them here. Just north on the Silverado Trail, you'll find Hoffman Farm, another prime spot for fruit and produce picking. Stewart's Farm is another jewel that sells fresh produce just off the Silverado Trail at Deer Park Road. Pick up some heirloom tomatoes or one of several kinds of squash just outside St. Helena. At the end of the Trail near Calistoga find pricey-but-exquisite Forni Brown Gardens; you can raid their April plant sale and grow some of the same produce that is used at popular restaurants French Laundry and Bouchon.

If you're heading to Sonoma Valley, your work's already done for you. Just pick up a copy of the Farm Trails map at Vella Cheese Company or the tourist office or skip over to the Farm Trails Web site. You'll find a staggeringly full listing of Sonoma County vendors of fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, animals, and poultry, meat, and dairy. Whether you want to find out more about the Gravenstein Apple Fair, pet a llama in Sebastopol or buy some excellent Petaluma Farms fresh pullet eggs, the Farm trails map is the tool you need, although you'll often stray outside the boundaries of what is officially "Sonoma Valley" and move into northern Sonoma County.